


How the years melt

by knifewingo



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-29 18:06:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19405441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knifewingo/pseuds/knifewingo
Summary: Sometimes you just have to burn some soft thirst out of your system, man. Jin, dragon, gave up his celestial form years ago to walk among humans, and how he has loved them. This one stuck with him, and their reunion stole the air from his ancient lungs.





	How the years melt

“I barely recognise you-” Jin’s voice trailed off, as his dark eyes traced the aquiline angles of Salim’s face. He hadn’t changed at all - not really. His slanted smile, lithe movements, the glimmer of warm, knowing mischief in his molten bronze eyes - were all those of that gangly, unkempt, uncertain youth. He had stretched into his body like it was a hammock - and every subsequent movement came with a breath of ease as slick as the silver moon on a still ink tide. Jin closed his eyes, swallowed the tremor in his throat. He didn’t think - he’d ever seen a man quite so beautiful. Sal glanced his way just for a second, polished eyes beneath those ever-black lashes. How the light caught brilliant gold across him. How his lips moved, so delicately, beneath the tight curls of that soft, ebony beard. As he tightened his fists, he could almost feel it under his palms, locked between his fingers. Soothed by the balmy sea, carried so gently by the softest breeze, the delicate spices he oiled with - bergamot, patchouli, cardamom, anise - sandalwood and cinnamon bark - Jin’s mind painted them onto his tongue. His teeth clicked together oh so faintly, as he pressed his lips into a fine line.

He must have been blind before. Eight years - so much had changed for him, his world written anew. How could this have passed him by?

Salim smiled, just the smallest flicker on his perfect lips. The touch of warmth in his eye glimmered, mirrored the scattered stars as he searched them passively. “You aren’t the first to tell me that,” he murmured. Soft, his voice flowed like honeyed wine - Jin felt its hazy warmth creep along his spine, felt the ghost of spent offerings on his tongue. There was fire in his eyes as they met his, smouldering in the kindling of midnight pupils. The intensity didn’t alarm him, for once. He couldn’t remember - the last time someone had looked at him like that. Still, he remained, even as Salim leaned in so close to him, his narcotic breath blazed in Jin’s own lungs. “But you - you’re the same. Well, perhaps not here…”

He hadn’t realised how warm he had become, until cool almond fingertips found him. Traced the grooves in his forehead, the stains beneath his bloodshot eyes - trailed very slowly over the lines at his mouth, ended, electrifying, along the ridge of his lip. Jin wasn’t entirely sure when he’d stopped breathing. The night billowed the gaping sails and the lapel of his loose linen shirt. The skin beneath, gleaming tan, was patterned with the most intricate of ink. Ancient letters that flowed into shapes and stories. He imagined every inch, the pattern of this man’s life, marked it on the roof of his mouth with his roving tongue. How he ached to know the truth - to trace it and trace it until it was branded into his mind. So much more desperately than he’d ever wanted anything before. His heart pleaded for release - but, truth be told, he would have stayed in that bittersweet moment of longing forever, if he could. Fluttering at his collar, a trapped moth, something pale and glittering, ice blue beneath the moon’s gaze. Jin’s hands moved alone as he stilled it- ancient, familiar - his thumb followed the shadow of the eye carved into its core, wide and unblinking. His fingers remembered still, the scratch of glass on scale, as he carved it out, those years ago, and thought nothing of it - nothing of the token the youth had asked for. Nothing of the power it would have over him, as he reunited with it now.

He followed the flash of colour that raced over his neck up to his dark eyes - his breath was shallow now, so close, their noses almost touched. Salim’s eyes rang of pain. Jin would have given anything to soothe him.  
“I’ve loved you for a long time, you know that?” He breathed.

Jin only needed to listen to his heartbeat for a second, before he touched his lips to his.

**Author's Note:**

> I wouldn't have posted this but I'm still quite proud of it. If you're here I hope you enjoyed it too!


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